Of Monsters and Men
by witheredredscarf
Summary: What if Eren never made it in time to save Mikasa? What if Erwin never threatened Levi? How would they both meet? Thug/Street!Brat AU


This AU suddenly just sparked from a conversation I had on skype with a friend. I originally posted it on tumblr (witheredredscarf) and since I'm not the best at AU's in trying to get the characteristics right and how they came to be who they are but in a different light, then I apologise for my youthfulness in this. However, I hope to get better and constructive criticism / reviews are always welcome ^^.

* * *

_Obsidian hues stared at the mirror, darkened by memories turned to ash and burned into her memory like the carvings on a gravestone. Dark eyes traced over the mirror in front of her, staring, her raven hair tied back into a makeshift bun where ebony strands hung over her face in wisps. Coal acuities shifted, staring at the grey, broken comb in front of her. Mikasa stared at it for a while, watching the inanimate object as she applied it to her own soul. Broken and embittered. _  
_Ebony crown inclined softly to her side as the door opened gently, showing a petite woman with chocolate brown hair and ocean blue eyes. Lips were as red as a rose, skin as white as paper. She looked at the young Oriental, sitting there with her mysterious dark eyes that were always so calm it frustrated everyone as to how it was so impossible to read the small child. The petite woman sighed, watching Mikasa as she watched back, ethereal and porcelain skinned appendages folded on the whites of her dress._  
_"Mikasa," she began, opening the door widely. Gesturing with her dainty hands folded into her palm so her thumb jerked out to the hallway, she stood in the door way. "Go to bed."_  
_The little girl stood up, exiting the room where she had watched so many women paint their faces. It looked disgusting to her eleven year old mind. As to why they would want to cake their faces so they looked like China dolls confused her. Making her way down the steps, Mikasa sighed. Maybe she would understand when she was older._  
_The cold and spine chilling sensation of the dark cellar hit Mikasa like a ton of bricks. She had been down here countless times, but the freezing sentiment it inflicted on the young girl, she would never get used to. It was only natural, a human reaction to be so unused to the cold. Yet, by now, Mikasa should be used to the cold._  
_"Tch. The only people used ta the cold down in this dump are the ones who've accept'it they ain't ever gonna get out of here," her friend and only companion in this place, Susannah, had told her, "Either that, or they jes' gave up tryin'."_  
_Mikasa took her words to heart, Susannah being also like a mentor to her. Perhaps, Mikasa hadn't gotten used to the cold yet because she swore to herself she would get out. Out of here and leave. She didn't care where. It could be on the streets for all she cared to give, but just as long as she got out of here soon. Small feet padded down the steps, reaching for the uncomfortable bed that she had been stuck with ever since she arrived in the corner. Skin brushed across the frayed and cold sheets, climbing into the resting place of horrid reverie._

* * *

**_Year, 848 - Wall Sina_**

_A nimble leap over the wall. Meat in hand, the ravenette ran free with at least three people chasing her, she could see. A small laugh as she dived into a few bushes. They passed by her, being too incompetent to even check in small spaces. Emerging from the chosen hiding place, Mikasa sighed and looked to her right. They were far away now, looking confused. She was too fast for them. Maybe because they were older, by far, than she was. Running back to the fountain where Susannah was perched, Mikasa showed the fiery haired girl the huge hunk of meat she had obtained. Susannah's eyes widened at Mikasa's findings. Long and slim digits took the pile, an astonished look in her eyes._  
_"How'd ye git yer mitts on this, eh?" Susannah asked, giving a proud smile up at the Asian girl in front of her. _  
_Mikasa gave a shrug, staring at the girl, her bright green eyes blazing with gluttony. _  
_"Dunno. I just snatched it, I guess. Military Police weren't even looking. Not that I'd expect much from them, anyway, huh, Suze?" the ravenette asked, jerking her thumb towards the sea of people with the insignia of a unicorn on their backs and their shotguns slung over their shoulders._  
_"Yeah, yeah, awright, Kaz," Susannah joked, punching the girl a year younger than her in the shoulder lightly. Kaz was a nickname Susannah had stuck on Mikasa ever since she learned her name and was unable to pronounce it right. "Yer even more agile and faster than I ever wis at yer age. You sure ye did'nae use them special superhuman powers ae yours, eh?" _  
_She was teasing, making Mikasa roll her eyes and shake her head. Ever since she had kicked one man in his genatalia and tossed him out of the brothel she and Susannah had been sold to for what seemed like man-handling to her, (it would have been in any normal case) Susannah thought she had some kind of superhuman strength. Perhaps she did. Luckily enough, the madam who ran the place never found out and the woman who was at least thirteen years her senior that he had been man handling thanked her endlessly. _  
_"I don't have any super powers, Suze," she groaned, giving her a playful elbow jab. "I guess I'm just fast because I'm young."_  
_"Tch. I'm young, too, Kaz. I'm a year older than ye 'n prolly would'nae be able tae dae that kinna stuff. I tried once 'n I failed, 'member? I 'member Kayleigh-Ann laughin' her arse off at me and you bein' the good frien' you are stepped in, aye?"_  
_Mikasa smiled triumphantly. Kayleigh-Ann was always strongly disliked between herself and Susannah. She was always snobbish, thought she was prettier than the other girls' and pratically all over vain, yet Mikasa could see straight through this facade. It was a petty way of acting superior since Kayleigh-Ann always felt inferior within the facility, and Kayleigh-Ann was not fond of rules._  
_"I've stepped in for you a lot, Suze," Mikasa stated, looking down at her small feet, keeping modesty as a replacement for triumph. Sometimes she stepped in for Susannah physically, sometimes emotionally. "It's not that big of a deal."_  
_"I'm glad we're not there anymore, Kaz…" Susannah trailed, leaving Mikasa to glance away. They were the first to ever escape a whore house unscathed. It had been a tedious effort, but the managed… _  
_"Yeah." Mikasa agreed. "Me, too."_  
_Susannah nodded, handing Mikasa a bit of the meat she had stolen for the both of them. Mikasa took it, between her thumb and forefinger, muching on it between small teeth, tiny bites, savouring it. They had nothing to talk about anymore…_

* * *

**_Year, 845 - Wall Sina, Military Police Unit_**

_Running._  
_Running away._  
_"Get back here, you brat!" They called, making the Oriental youth run faster than she ever had before, tears falling from her obsidian hues. A race of emotions… Desperation, melancholy, despair, adrenaline._  
_"Don't let the bitch get away!" one called, suddenly making Mikasa's heart reace faster, as if it were even possible. She let out a frightened whine, suddenly turning a corner as she speeded down. Gasping at the abrupt scene, she stared. A man, beefy and red, was holding up a girl, his cronies surrounding him. She had long, fiery red her, and leaf green eyes. One of them yanked a bit of meat from the girls' hand._  
_"You little brat! We pay good money for that crap!" the beefy man growled. One of them suddenly noticed the ravenette, standing at the side, staring._  
_"Hey! What are you staring at? Go kid, scram! Piss off!" the one who noticed yell. However, she was glued to the spot. The girl's forest hues skimmed to the ravenette, scared and confused. The redhead tried to choke out to her. _  
_"H - Help….me." she spluttered, the beefy man flickering his eyes to her, he growled, mumbling to his men something that sounded like; "take care of her." The redhead's eyes suddenly filled with fear, her saviour was only another lost, scared, little girl. The ravenette took a step back, onyx eyes brimmed with tears of fear and the men advanced on her…_  
_"H - Help me… If… If you don't," the redhead choked, coughing as the man's hand tightened, "stick up for….yourself… They'll," more coughing, his hand tightening, "k - kill you. You need to fight them if… if you w - want to l - live." _  
_Mikasa gasped, onyx hues glancing up at the men. A flash went through her memory._  
_A dying preying mantis, struggling to regain it's life._  
_This._  
_The duck. It had a family once, maybe some ducklings._  
_World._  
_Her parents, strewn on the floor, her last memory of her mother reaching out to her, just to grasp on to the only daughter she had. To protect the lifeform in front of her eyes and keep her from harm in her final moments._  
_Is._  
_And now this. A man choking a little girl, just because she needed to eat - at least that's what it looked like from her perspective. This was wrong. No one should suffer like this… No one…_  
_Cruel._  
_This world is cruel._  
_The men got closer, closer… and closer, but Mikasa felt electricity course through her body, making all the fear she had felt previously diminish from her being. She was no longer scared, but she was weaponless; defenseless. _  
_Suddenly, one of the men advanced on her going to grab her - Mikasa grabbed their wrist, flipping them over on their head with ease and into the boardwalk. The other was shocked, staring at his compodre with ultimate bewilderment. He didn't notice Mikasa take the knife from his pocket, yet this knife wasn't for him._  
_Obsidian acuities glanced at the redhead, the beefy man had loosened his grip to stare. Soon enough, they both returned to their senses as the other man charged, yet he was too late. Her foot collided with his private place, suddenly making him fall to his knees. The beefy man stared at Mikasa as she felt a sudden rush, burying both men's face into the boardwalk. It crushed as Mikasa gripped the blade angrily, the wood splintering just as the boardwalk as she ran…._  
_…Charged at the man._  
_The splintering of the boardwalk made the other two fall into the water beneath them, the river drowning them with vigour as they both couldn't swim. _  
_Blood was abruptly sprayed on to her skin, a knife buried into a man's chest. She stared, on her hands and knees, panting at the now dead man, his eyes wide. A shaking, porcelain hand covered her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes. She had murdered… a man… _  
_This world is cruel._  
_"Th - Thank you…" she heard, in a rasp. Glancing up, Mikasa gasped as she stared at the redhead, rubbing at the red welt around her neck. Mikasa nodded, still shocked at the kill. The redhead's green eyes softened, standing up and taking light steps towards the paled ravenette. An appendage extended on to hers, helping Mikasa up. Mikasa stared at her, bewildered._  
_"I'm Susannah Marianade, but ya may call me Suze." she introduced, giving the Oriental youth a bright grin. _  
_"Mi - Mikasa." she introduced back. "Ackerman." _  
_Susannah smiled at the Oriental, but that smile was soon wiped from her face as Mikasa tensed at a voice that suddenly cried out;_  
_"What are you doing here?! Do you know how long I've been chasing for you, you little bitch!" _  
_That was the last thing Mikasa heard before she blacked out…_

* * *

**Year, 850 - Present Day**

Dark eyes opened abruptly, salty sweat dripping into her eyes from her forehead. Body jolted up, panting for breath at the nightmare, no, the memory that was a nightmare that she usually kept repressed. It had from being thirteen, to ten - suddenly she was fifteen again. Chest heaved as cranium inclined upwards to stare at the sky. It was bright, the lightness of the sun hitting her eyes like a thousand diamonds. A pale appendage came up to shield her eyes from the sudden rays, glancing at the fiery haired girl next to her.  
"Susannah," the ravenette muttered, reaching over to shake her awake from the concrete ground, digging into her skin like hard nails. "Susannah, wake up. Time to steal breakfast."


End file.
